Matches held up by wildlife and underwear protests, chickens in danger in Croatian football and offside armpits.

The action was spectacular, exciting and colorful for 12 months around the globe, but the thrilling and sometimes surprising images also caught the wider significance of modern sport. 

Lazio returned to a heroes welcome in Rome on Monday after their thrilling 3-1 Italian Super Cup victory over Juventus in Riyadh which ended Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo's five-year victorious run in finals.

The British government called on football chiefs Monday to do more to rid the sport of racism, but stopped short of launching a full-scale inquiry demanded by the domestic players' union following the latest incident in the English game.

Kylian Mbappe is putting himself forward for the French team at next summer's Tokyo Olympics, while adding that he would not want to fight his club Paris Saint-Germain over participation.

Pep Guardiola has said he would back his players if they ever found themselves compelled to walk off during a game in protest against racist abuse.

Liverpool have made winning trophies a habit in 2019 and Jurgen Klopp's side return to England and to their push for the Premier League title galvanized after being crowned world champions in Qatar on Saturday.

UEFA on Friday fined Turkey's football federation 50,000 euros ($55,360) for their supporters' behavior and warned several players following military salutes performed during two Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Thousands of fans held up blue banners with the words 'Spain, sit and talk' as Barcelona and Real Madrid kicked off the first Clasico of the season at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

"We've got the cheapest beer in Qatar," boasts a seller of vouchers for $6.90 pints at the Club World Cup fan zone in Doha.

Several bars in Doha charge in excess of $16 (14.39 euros) for a bottle of beer and the Qatari World Cup organizers have said they are "looking into" how to bring prices down ahead of 2022.